‘RAT BOX’ DEVICES TO HELP SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES MONITOR INTERSECTIONS

Two months ago, the Poway City Council voted to stop its red-light camera enforcement program by covering up cameras at three of the city’s busiest intersections.

The idea was to see whether the cameras — despised by many who think they are too sensitive and an invasion of privacy, as pictures are taken of drivers — are really needed. Later this summer, the council will see whether accidents have increased and make a final decision on whether to uncover the cameras or eliminate them for good.

But now the Sheriff’s Department has installed low-tech devices on cameras at two of those intersections, as well as at a third, designed to catch red-light violators.

Known in the industry as “rat boxes,” the small devices are attached to the top, bottom or back of traffic signals. When the light turns red, a small blue light behind the signal illuminates. A deputy stationed behind the signal — who can see the line where vehicles are supposed to stop — can tell whether someone has entered the intersection on a red light and then chase them down and issue a ticket.

The rat boxes are not cameras, and they require a deputy to be in the area.

One of the reasons the council suspended the red-light camera program was because statistics showed that while broadside accidents decreased at monitored intersections, rear-end accidents increased as drivers, worried about getting a ticket, would slam on their brakes.

“When I first read about it, I thought it was ‘the son of red-light camera,’” Councilman Steve Vaus said of the rat boxes. “But when I looked into it, in very simple terms, it’s just adding an extra light bulb to our existing red lights. An officer will know when the light changes. There are no sensors, no Big Brother. It’s just a simple use of electricity. I don’t see it as an issue.”

Mayor Don Higginson, whose idea it was to suspend the camera program, said comparison of the two enforcement tools is like comparing apples with oranges.

He said all the rat boxes do is eliminate subjectivity on the part of a deputy who sometimes has to guess whether a car entered an intersection before the signal turned red.

“These are just another inexpensive tool to help them in the enforcement of moving violations,” Higginson said. Each rat box costs about $100.

City Manager Penny Riley said the installation of the rat boxes did not need council approval, but all the members were sent a memo and a PowerPoint presentation explaining their use.

Why the devices are called rat boxes is unclear. According to the presentation prepared by deputies in Santee, where the devices also are used, the name may derive from the fact that they look a little like rats, with a “nose” and a “tail” — or that they “rat out” a violator.

The rat boxes are now used at Poway and Pomerado roads, Poway and Community roads, and Scripps Poway Parkway and Pomerado Road.

Poway sheriff’s Sgt. David Cheever said rat boxes are used in several other cities in the county, including Santee and Encinitas.